The Marx Brothers Lark Up New Year's Day

Start your year with a mondo dose of mirth, in Santa Monica.

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The Marx Brothers, less Zeppo, will be on the big screen at The Aero Theatre on New Year's Day.

Eating cuisines specific to New Year's Day, and perhaps making a wish on each dish, is a tradition many revelers abide by, with foodie fervor.

But we'd like to suggest another luck-filled tradition of the non-food kind. Every film fan should view a movie that symbolizes the year they'd like to have. A romantic comedy would help stir up love, while an adventure tale would promise more travel.

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So what does watching the Marx Brothers crack wise and raise eyebrows and happily harangue those in need of haranguing say about our New Year's Day movie-viewing? We believe it says this: Let's make the coming 365 days a little sillier, a little weirder, and a lot more light-of-heart.

American Cinematheque screens a pair of Marx merrymakers each and every New Year's Day, and Wednesday, Jan. 1 will be no exception. It dare not be an exception, with screwball-loving cineastes wanting to kick their year off right with Groucho, Harpo, and Chico.

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The films? "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" are the le plus ultra picks. The place? The Aero Theatre. The time? 5 p.m.

"Opera" is considered the familial gaggle's "biggest hit" and it is easy to how it nabbed that billing: The stand-no-fools brothers go against some swank swells, with hilarious results. "A Day at the Races" walks the hoity-toity road again, with more hilarity.

Yep, we want 2014 to funnier, livelier, and take-less-guff-ier. Even if you can't make the Aero, perhaps you should watch a film that symbolizes your year ahead, and make a wish. If we can do it on various foods, why not on various films?